Bottle crushing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A force fed glass crushing device having a downwardly tapered housing with an inlet in the top end thereof for receiving glass objects, and a bottom outlet for discharging crushed glass. A plurality of substantially upright power driven screw augers are rotatably mounted within the housing and converge downwardly into close proximity with one another at their lower ends for crushing glass therebetween. The operation of the augers may be controlled by a switch automatically activited by glass objects prior to entering the housing and an automatic timed shutoff.

[ 1 3,713,596 Jan. 30, 1973 United States Patent Hoffmann [54] BOTTLE CRUSHING APPARATUS .241/99 X 241/99 X .i...241/252 .241/251 X /1 7 Qualheim............ ............i

r e D. r a H 020 767 999 111 1.10 11 1483 2506 ,9 4943 00063 3333 Primary ExaminerDona1d G. Kelly Attorney.loseph G. Werner et a1.

[22] Filed: Aug. 9, 1971 [21] App1 No.: 170,070

ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. ...241/99, 241/36, 241/252, A force fed glass crushing device having a downwardly 241/260 tapered housing with an inlet in the top end thereof B 26 l for receiving glass objects, and a bottom outlet for Field ofSearch............................. ....241/99,

discharging crushed glass. A plurality of substantially upright power driven screw augers are rotatably mounted within the housing and converge downwardly into close proximity with one another at their lower ends for crushing glass therebetween. The operation of the augers may be controlled by a switch automatically activited by glass objects prior to entering the housing and an automatic timed shutoff.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2 558,255 Johnson 2,588,903 3/1952 Akins 3,605,188 9/1971 McCormick..............i......

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEUJAN 30 I975 3,713,596

SHEET 1 [1F 2 v 'Q- 1 WILLIAM o. HOFFMANN PAIENIEDm 30 ms SHEET 2 BF 2 INVENTOR WILLIAM D. HOFFMANN BOTTLE CRUSHING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention.

The invention pertains generally to apparatus known as glass breakers and more particularly to glass and bottle crushing apparatus for reducing glass to successively smaller fragments as it passes through the apparatus.

2. Description of the Prior Art.

Disposing of glass containers, bottles and the like has always been a problem due to the bulk of the objects. Modern production capacities along with the ever growing popularity of the no return" bottle has placed increased importance on efficient disposal methods. Furthermore, an ecological imbalance growing out of rapidly increasing waste material necessitates the reducing of the quantity and size of waste products and the re-cycling of same if possible.

A number of machines have been developed for breaking glass objects into pieces for more compact disposal. Bottle destroying devices such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,115,406 apply a single hammer-like blow to the glass containers breaking them into several large pieces. Bottle breakers such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,558,255 and 3,353,756 employ a high-speed rotor for striking bottles several times breaking them into smaller fragments. U.S. Pat. No. 2,558,255 also discloses in FIGS. 7 and 8 a bottle smasher having opposed rotating toothed cylinders that squeeze bottles until the bottles break apart. U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,8l4 shows a rotating toothed cylinder on which bottles are dropped. U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,621 discloses a device consisting of a plurality of pairs horizontal crushing rollers disposed one below the other. The rollers of each succeeding pair are placed closer together to break the glass fragments received into successively smaller pieces. Although this device has the capacity to crush glass objects into compactible fragments it requires a profusion of elements cooperating in a series of substantially independent operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 1 have invented a force fed glass crushing device for breaking glass objects and crushing them into successively smaller pieces in a single unified operation as they are fed through the device.

The crushing device consists of a downwardly tapered housing having a plurality of substantially upright screw augers rotatably mounted therein. The screw augers converge downwardly into close proximity of one another and extend along the edges of the housing. The glass objects dropped into the housing are forced downwardly by the rotating converging augers causing the objects to be crushed therebetween. As the broken pieces of glass are fed downwardly the convering augers cause them to be crushed into successively smaller fragments.

Further objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the invention for exemplification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a glass crushing device embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary isometric view of the glass crushing device of FIG. 1 with portions of-the device broken away for clarity.

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation view of an automatic control system for the glass crushing device of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, my glass crushing device is shown generally at 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the crushing device preferably comprises a metal cabinet 11 having a horizontal topwall 12, intermediate and lower horizontal walls 13 and 14, respectively, and an open front side 15. The cabinet has an inlet chute 16 extending through the top wall as best seen in FIG. 1.

A downwardly tapered crusher housing 17 is mounted between the intermediate and lower walls 13 and 14 under the inlet chute 16. The housing 17 shown has the general configuration of a multi-sided (three shown) inverted pyramid having converging edges formed by the juncture of the sides.

The top end of the housing 17 is rigidly mounted in the intermediate wall 13 beneath the inlet chute 16. The top end of the housing is open to provide an inlet 18 for receiving glass objects such as bottles and the like from the chute.

The bottom end of the tapered crusher housing 17 is mounted in the lower wall 14 of the cabinet and is also open to provide an outlet 19 which is substantially smaller than the inlet 18 for discharging crushed glass from the housing.

As shown in FIG. 1, a bucket such as 20 or other refuse receptacle supported on a caster board 21 may be positioned under the outlet for receiving crushed glass discharged from the crusher housing.

As best seen in FIG. 2, a plurality (3 shown) of substantially upright elongate rotatable screw augers 22, 23 and 24 are disposed within the crusher housing. The augers are mounted substantially in alignment with the converging edges of the housing and thus converge downwardly toward one another for crushing glass objects therebetween. The lower ends of the screw augers are rotatably journalled in anchor plates such as shown at 25 bolted to the lower wall'l4 as shown. The upper ends of the augers are connected by universal joints such as 26 to the shafts 27a, 28a and 29a of drive gears 27,28 and '29 rotatably journalled in the intermediate wall 13.

The screw augers 22, 23 and 24 are rotated to force the glass downwardly and crush the same into progressively smaller fragments as it is moved downwardly through the crusher housing. An electric motor such as shown at 30 supplies the power for rotatably driving the screw augers. The rotative drive force is transmitted from the motor through a drive belt 31 and gear reduction assembly 32 to the drive sprocket 33 with a resultant gear reduction ratio of about 30:1. The sprocket 33 drives chain 34 which is trained over gear sprockets 27, 28 and 29 thus rotating the three screw augers.

In some applications, such as taverns and the like where drinks are served it is preferred to incorporate an automatic control system such as shown in FIG. 3

with the glass crushing device. In the example shown, the inlet chute 16 would extend upwardly from the basement where the crushing device would be located through the floor 40 to a position beneath the bar top 41. Glass objects such as bottles which are dropped into the chute l6, trip a switch 42 connected to a control box 43 for starting the motor 30. Thus, by the time the glass object inserted into the chute passes through the chute and enters the crusher housing 17 the augers will be rotating at full speed. Through means of a timer incorporated in the control box 43 the motor will operate for a pre-selected period of time sufficient for the crushing device to completely crush all glass fed through the chute. In the event that glass objects are deposited after a time cycle has commenced, the timer will automatically be re-set to a full time cycle to provide the full crushing time for the last glass object which tripped the control switch.

Since the glass is force fed by the downwardly screwing augers and reduced to progressively smaller fragments by the convergence of the augers, the glass fragments will be in a closely compactable form ready for disposal as waste or for shipping to a re-cycling center for re-processing into new glass objects such as bottles and the like.

It is understood that my invention is not confined to the particular constructions and arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described, but embraces all such modified forms as come within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. Glass crushing apparatus comprising:

a. a downwardly tapered housing,

b. an inlet in the top of said housing for receiving glass objects,

c. a plurality of substantially upright elongate screw augers mounted within said housing and converging downwardly toward one another for crushing glass objects therebetween,

d. an outlet in the bottom of said housing for discharging crushed glass, and

e. means for rotatably driving said screw augerst 2. The glass crushing apparatus as specified in claim 1 wherein said housing has an inverted multi-sided pyramidal configuration and one each of said screw augers is mounted in substantial alignment with one each of the edges formed by the junction of the sides of said pyramidal housing. 

1. Glass crushing apparatus comprising: a. a downwardly tapered housing, b. an inlet in the top of said housing for receiving glass objects, c. a plurality of substantially upright elongate screw augers mounted within said housing and converging downwardly toward one another for crushing glass objects therebetween, d. an outlet in the bottom of said housing for discharging crushed glass, and e. means for rotatably driving said screw augers.
 1. Glass crushing apparatus comprising: a. a downwardly tapered housing, b. an inlet in the top of said housing for receiving glass objects, c. a plurality of substantially upright elongate screw augers mounted within said housing and converging downwardly toward one another for crushing glass objects therebetween, d. an outlet in the bottom of said housing for discharging crushed glass, and e. means for rotatably driving said screw augers. 